SEIFA is a key Census product that assists in determining Australia's social and economic conditions, assisting governments, businesses and community organisations in research, planning and analysis.

The four Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) will be released on http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/Home/census on 26 March. SEIFA is developed by combining multiple 2006 Census topics such as income, occupation and educational attainment to determine affluent, disadvantaged and highly skilled and educated areas based on their social and economic status. Data can be obtained for all Census geographic areas from capital cities down to the Collection District (CD) level.

SEIFA features four indexes, allowing you to rank socio-economic data for CDs, suburbs, towns or cities relevant to your needs. Each index summarises the different aspects of SEIFA, being:

Index of Advantage/Disadvantage

Index of Disadvantage

Index of Economic Resources

Index of Education and Occupation

This data can be applied by many users for a number of purposes. This may include:

determining infrastructure requirements and subsequent planning;

distributing funds and grants appropriately;

determining new business opportunities for commercial and not-for-profit enterprise;

identifying areas requiring community assistance programmes, and

researching and evaluating existing government and community initiatives.

Due to strong demand a preliminary version of the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) was released on 18 February. We strongly advise users, especially those with no prior experience of SEIFA indexes, to wait for the full release with complete accompanying documentation.